industry

Chennai has 297 cars for each km of road, Mumbai tops density list


MUMBAI: Mumbai is the most car-congested city in India. The density of private cars in Mumbai soared 18% in just two years to 510 cars for every kilometre of road resulting in huge traffic jams, pollution and unauthorised parking.

Pune follows Mumbai with 359 cars per km, compared to 319 cars in Kolkata, 297 in Chennai, 149 in Bengaluru and 108 cars in Delhi, reveal statistics from state transport departments.

“If there is no control over purchase or mobility of private cars, commuting by road will become a nightmare,” said Ashok Datar, a transport expert who advocates the use of buses.

In mid-2016, the car density in Mumbai was 430 cars per km, a figure that has gone up to 510 cars/km (road length of 2,000km), according to data procured from the Maharashtra transport ministry. This has taken the total number of registered private cars on city roads as of date to 10.2 lakh—around 28% of Mumbai’s total vehicular population of 36 lakh.

RTO officials said the maximum car registrations were in the western suburbs which has over 5 lakh registered cars, followed by 3.3 lakh in the island city and 1.7 lakh private cars in the eastern suburbs.


‘49% of road space occupied by private cars’


Officials in the know revealed that upmarket areas in eastern suburbs like Powai had the maximum registrations for highend cars and SUVs in recent years. Chembur was the next big suburb on the eastern side to have car registrations in almost every middle class household, the officials stated.

The Eastern Freeway is a preferred route for those in Chembur as it provides a highspeed connect to SoBo and saves over half an hour in commuting time. RTO records also showed that Colaba-Cuffe Parade had a huge vehicular population, including several commercial vehicles, compared with the tony areas of Malabar Hill, Nepean Sea Road and Pedder Road. In the western suburbs, Andheri and Goregaon had several residential and commercial hubs where car population has swelled over the years.

A recent study by the Mumbai Environmental Social Network, a think-tank, showed that among private vehicles, 49% of road space is occupied by private cars—all types, including SUVs.

This is one of the key reasons for increasing traffic congestion, with average speed on the Western Express highway dropping to 10kmph during peak hours, and on LBS Marg to less than 8kmph. Transport experts are alarmed by the rise in private cars, which they say is an “impediment” to the growth of public transport in the city. They also fear the rise in vehicles could lead to parking woes.

“The arterial road should be kept free of any parking (on both sides of the road) during peak hours. It will free up road space and allow movement of 50% more vehicles, especially buses,” he said, adding that the burgeoning car population also leads to air and sound pollution.





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